Labour Court rejects union bid to exempt OPW assessors from lay-offs

In 1988, the Labour Court did not recommend exempting work study assessors employed by the Office Of Public Works from periods of short-time working in its drainage construction section. The recommendation was signed on 12 July 1988. The Irish Distributive And Administrative Trade Union said its members had supplied the required voluntary redundancies and understood there would be no further compulsory reductions. The Office Of Public Works said voluntary redundancies across the service had fallen short and that lay-offs were needed to meet budget limits. The Court did not accept that there was a valid case for excluding the assessors from short-time working that might occur in 1988.